Actress Missi Pyle on Her ‘Artist’ Switcheroo

When actress Missi Pyle showed up for her first day of shooting on director Michel Hazanavicius’s silent film “The Artist,” she was prepared to play Doris, the wife of Jean Dujardin’s silent film star George Valentin. She quickly learned from her makeup artist that she was in fact playing Constance, the Jean Hagen-esque actress and lady friend of an egotistical studio chief.

“It was a little confusing to say the least,” said the actress at cocktail event Tuesday night celebrating the film’s special screening at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles. Like her co-stars James Cromwell and Malcolm McDowell, who also stopped by the afterparty at The Little Door bar, she was initially presented with a picture-heavy synopsis of the film as opposed to a written-out script. She also auditioned for the role of the wife, a role that went to actress Penelope Ann Miller, leading her initial confusion on set.

Overall, however, Pyle loved her experience on the film. Because she knew the film was not only going to be silent, but also in black and white, she said she felt “intimately present” in the role and was able to focus on aspects of her performance she hadn’t thought of before.